Mantle of the Gods

The pressure in the vehicle was making it hard to breathe.

I couldn’t believe that Trent wasn’t flinching from the aura that was coming off of this person. It was enough to make me want to try to jump out of the back, except my legs weren’t obeying my screaming brain.

And then the pressure was gone and I could take the breath that my lungs had been refusing to accept.

“Still got it, I see, but seriously.” Tres leaned back in his seat. "Why?”

“I need to fill out a second team and wanted to give them some time to blend with the potentials. It also gives them a chance to get some floor clears in that would be meaningless later.”

“So why didn’t you tell me that you were coming?” The god raised an eyebrow.

“Honestly, I wanted to avoid all of this, because I knew you’d come down if I called ahead and I knew that this…” Trent waved at Rix. "Would happen.”

“Which tells me why you came, not why you brought her.” Tres followed the old man’s hand, then turned back to Trent.

Trent folded his arms and stared at the god.

“Yes, yes. You brought her because she’s part of your class and you’re a teacher now… Blah, Blah, Blah.” Tres made pinching motions with his hands as he leaned back. “What happens if you take her to Slece or Juel and one of them catches her little disappearing act…”

“I’m not taking them there.” Trent interrupted. "This might be ill advised, but I’m not stupid.”

“I thought you said we were getting a student from each city.” I realized that I hadn’t used my inside voice again.

Tres glared at Trent. "I thought we didn’t lie to each other. Sneaking into my city pushes that line as it is…”

“I already have a student from Slece on my team. Ozet Mite, Itchy’s great-great-grandaughter.” My teacher glared at me.

“You got one of Itchy’s?” Tres laughed. "Do you remember the time we…” He looked over at me. "Nevermind.” The God coughed. "What about Juel? Is one of the other…” He looked at me then back at Trent. "How is he the only guy out of..?” The God tried to remember how many people we had.

“Eight.” Trent finished for him.

There was an awkward silence. It might not have been awkward for them, but it was definitely awkward for me.

“Well..?” Tres tapped his foot.

“There was another man on the team, but he manifested the Berzerk passive and had to be sent home.” Trent shrugged like it was no big deal. “One of the team members pointed out that it might keep a closed loop if he created a harem…” The white-haired man seemed to go somewhere else for a little while, then he snapped back. "After what happened to…” He looked like he might tear up. "Anyway, I thought it might be a good idea.”

“Yeah…” Tres looked like he was sizing me up, then shrugged and turned back to my teacher. "What about Juel? You didn’t answer the question.”

“I have someone bringing her here.” Trent admitted. "I’m not going to take these two that direction until we can be certain the others Gods won’t be able to realize what they are.”

“Others? And I thought Gesai and I were supposed to pick out the new members of the team.” I found a little bit of my courage.

“It’s too dangerous to take you there right now, so I talked with Gesai and we made the call.” Trent seemed a little annoyed. "And if it had been almost anyone else there’s a good chance they wouldn’t have been able to see through the seals on the two of you.”

“Why?” I looked at Tres. "What does he have that the others don’t?”

“Because…” Tres pulled back his yellow shirt to reveal an almost identical tattoo on his chest. "It’s the same one that my father put on me.”